Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back for another animated movie adventurer after a one-month hiatus to focus on his exams. This time, we are heading back to New York City for another adventure with turtles in a half shell, and yes, we are talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem!
Yet another remake of this beloved franchise and directed by the co-director of 2021’s The Mitchells vs the Machines, Jeff Rowe, along with director of the beloved Amphibia series, Kyler Spears, this movie once again sees the Turtles back in action as they face an army of mutants in a brand new spin.
Considering that I love Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie last year, Mutant Mayhem has some shoes to fill, but with the help of French-based Mikros Animation (well known for producing great animated movies on tight budgets with the likes of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Paw Patrol: The Movie) and Canada-based Cinesite (Riverdance: The Animated Adventure, Paws of Fury, etc), will this be yet another cowbunga moment from the franchise?
Only one way to find out. Let’s go to New York City and watch them in action!
Key Information
- Directors: Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears
- Animation Studios: Mikros Animation and Cinesite Animation (distributed by Paramount)
- Country of Origin: United States,Canada, France
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 31 August 2023 (In Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
I wanted to talk about the issues with the writing so that we can get the negatives out of the way, because the main negatives tend to be around the characterisations of April. Simply put, April has been a love interest throughout the various TMNT series, and recycling this aspect is honestly tiring for me, even if she has proven to be useful to the Turtles as per usual. In addition, there were a whole lot of pop cultural references that, while I was able to get through most of them, can sometimes fly over certain moviegoers’ heads and can get annoying real fast.
Despite these and other writing issues that let certain story elements down, this is the first time a TMNT cartoon or movie captures the “teenage” aspect of the turtles. Not only are Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael, (Brady Noon) Donatello (Micah Abbey) and Michaelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr) voice-acted by actual teenagers, they also acted like how regular teenagers would act, but still capture the essence of these characters from past series and movies, including the severely underrated Rise of TMNT series. A few inconsistencies here and there, but Jeff Rowe and his team captured the TMNT spirit.
In addition, while this movie follows similar beats with other superhero origin stories, and even certain TMNT plots, the movie nails it with both the action and the pacing. Despite having limited action scenes compared to the usual TMNT series or even the Rise of TMNT Movie (which I reviewed last year), it makes up for with excellent pacing, making each action scene just right. Even without the action scenes, the quieter moments are also well-timed without slowing down altogether. It is what makes this movie so engaging.
Speaking of the characters and voice acting, while the focus is mainly on the Turtles themselves, the other characters get their spotlight too. Master Splinter had limited screen time and could be a slightly weaker portrayal of this beloved supporting character. However, being voiced by the legendary Jackie Chan himself, Splinter invokes a different vibe that is up to date with peak Jackie Chan during his heyday in the 80s and 90s. The villains, including Ice Cube’s Superfly (yes, that NWA rapper), while having limited screen time, have great personality and voice acting too.
Animation
With the overall quality of animation in mainstream animated movies getting better and better these days, it is getting tougher for me to discern the quality of animation in those movies. It is even tougher when the studios involved in the animation are not as prominent.
In the case for Mutant Mayhem, the animation is done by two studios: Mikros Animation, the French-based animation studio well known for pulling off decent animation on relatively shoestring budgets, such as in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Paw Patrol: The Movie (with the sequel, The Mighty Movie, coming out very, very soon), and Cinesite Animation (with Cinesite-affiliated Nitrogen Studios, the studio that did Sausage Party which co-producer Seth Rogen would be very familiar with), the Canada-based studio with a not-so-great track record with their various collaborations, such as Extinct, Riverdance: The Animated Movie, Paws of Fury and those two Addams Family movies.
However, rather than clashing with each other, these two (or should I say three) animation studios somehow produce a stylized CG animation style like no other.
I honestly could not believe the sketchy style of stylised CG animation that these two studios produce, since they had never produced an animated movie that is at least a 16/20 on the Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating. However, spoiler alert, they managed to do just that!
While a lot of the recent animated movies embrace the new wave of stylised CG animated movies, Mutant Mayhem embraces a more gritty, scruffy and yet dynamic sketchbook style of CG animation, providing a level of dynamism not yet seen in a mainstream animation studio. It is because of this style that there is so much oomph in the action sequences, and there is a level of grittiness not seen since 2020’s Spycies. However, unlike Spycies which went for a hyper realistic animation style because it went for a photorealistic CG style that makes certain character designs more bizarre, the deliberate ugliness in Mutant Mayhem with its stylised CG is justified because of the character designs. What do I mean?
Given the movie takes place in appropriately New York City, the human characters are deliberately gritty and gave off some scary vibes to bring it home about the messaging at the beginning of the movie. Even better, the villain characters, who are also mutants, are also ugly and hideous but in a fantastic way. While the ugly character designs might put off some moviegoers, the selection of the animation style enhances the overall uniqueness this movie possesses, and that was what made the movie’s animation so amazing.
I could honestly go on with the other animation moments that makes it so amazing, but I feel you should go and see it yourself. It is rare for a mainstream animation movie to leave me without words with its animation style, but that what exactly what happened with Mutant Mayhem.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
Once again, being a TMNT movie, it needs to have an epic soundtrack to round up the experience, and luckily, Rowe and Spears hired a pair of composers to do just that, and not just any composers, but Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who previously won an Oscar for Best Original Score in Pixar’s Soul. To no one’s surprise, they composed yet another cowbunga soundtrack worthy of a TMNT adaptation. Honestly, the soundtrack they composed made me nostalgic of the classic TMNT cartoons with the hip-hop tracks running in hot, even if the overall quality is not up there with the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Deep Sea. Still, near-flawless soundtrack.
As for my level of enjoyment, while I was slightly frustrated by the issues with the writing, I still had a great time with the movie. It was such a fun movie that I was willing to go through with its flaws, and indeed, I had a blast over Mutant Mayhem. Nothing more, nothing less.
Conclusion
Despite being a slightly weaker TMNT movie than Rise of TMNT: The Movie due to its writing issues, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem proves it is possible to produce a fantastic theatrical TMNT movie that deserves to be seen in theaters.
Mutant Mayhem is perhaps the best animation work from both Mikros Animation and Cinesite Animation, with super creative and scruffy visuals that match up with its dynamic action, and full of characters with well-rounded personalities and fantastic voice acting, not to mention yet another exciting soundtrack courtesy of Ross and Reznor. While certain pop cultural references could have been toned down a bit and certain characterisations do not match up with other TMNT series and movies, Mutant Mayhem still remains an exciting addition to the franchise about pizza-loving turtles in a half-shell.
Thank you so much for reading this review. Let us keep the momentum going with another rundown of animated movies, and this time, it is an absolute mammoth. I will see you on the next adventure and until then, k thanks bye!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
